Runaway car rolls into Somerset vets building

Police said it was a typical night for a group of friends from a church group watching the Red Sox win their game against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the garage of a Hillside Avenue home when the unexpected happened. They heard a screeching sound, looked out the window, and saw a 2008 blac...

Police said it was a typical night for a group of friends from a church group watching the Red Sox win their game against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the garage of a Hillside Avenue home when the unexpected happened.

They heard a screeching sound, looked out the window, and saw a 2008 black Hyundai Elantra parked on the street minutes earlier rolling back toward Brayton Avenue, said Patrolman Chris Magan, who responded to the 9:50 p.m. call that night.

No one was in the car that the driver said had been parked there for four or five hours and has an automatic transmission, Magan said.

At Wednesday night’s selectmen meeting, Town Administrator Dennis Luttrell announced that the back of the AmVets Post 72 hall had been damaged significantly by a car that rolled down the hill and hit the hall. It busted the hot water heater and water line near the shutoff, caused flooding inside that ruined the carpeting and broke the gas furnace and piping, Luttrell reported.

Utility crews were called to the scene to turn off the gas and the water.

Outside, several rows of white siding were broken up, barely 50 feet from the bocce court where Wednesday night a dozen men and women were having a great time.

Tacked to the front door of the popular AmVets hall, a town-owned building where numerous functions take place, a makeshift sign read: “Closed for repairs.”

At police headquarters, Magan and Lt. Armand Cabral shared the strange circumstances that they’re still investigating.

They said the car rolled and picked up steam about 200 feet down Hillside Road until, about 50 feet from the hall, it veered onto the grass near the Bocce court and hit the corner of the house.

“It was rolling down the hill and there was no way to stop it,” Cabral said the group told police.

“Things like this happen. We’re just wondering why it slipped out of gear,” said Cabral, who said their report and investigation was not complete and they were not releasing the names and address of the parties.

“They heard it, they turned and looked to see it rolling down the hill,” Magan said they told him.

He said the rear bumper of the car was torn off and it turned at the last moment before hitting the building, damaging the passenger side of the car.

Magan and Cabral thought damage to the building would amount to thousands of dollars.

Luttrell said the insurance company had been contacted and there should not be expenses for the town. He was hoping the repairs could be done as quickly as possible so those planning functions over the weekend might have use of the AmVets hall.

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One thing the car hitting the building did was to stop it from going further across busy Brayton Avenue, where Magan said people were outdoors, some walking their dogs.

The friends watching the Red Sox were gathered for a house-warming party. Earlier they’d gone to church. Some said when they saw the empty car rolling down the hill they prayed no one would get hurt.